


Heatwave

by DoubleH11037



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), F/M, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:48:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25207228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoubleH11037/pseuds/DoubleH11037
Summary: It's a hot summer day and Shuchi's friends want to go to the pool. Shuichi hates the pool, but figures he might as well go. Will things work out in the end?
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede/Saihara Shuichi
Kudos: 49





	Heatwave

# Heatwave

“Ah… it’s so hot!” Kaede exclaimed.

Kaito, Maki, Kaede and I were hanging out at my house in one of the early days of summer break, the first since we joined the academy. We hadn’t made any plans, so we just gathered under roof to lazily sip lemonade. A whole field of opportunities laid in front of us, but for now… it was really hot.

“I know, right...” Kaito replied to Kaede’s mention. “I don’t get it, I don’t remember last summer being this hot!”

“It’s global warming, Kaito.” I replied. “Over the last 30 years, temperatures on land surfaces have been steadily increasing, being the leading cause to heat waves.” he went briefly silent, trying to process that.

“Oh yeah… I forgot about that.”

“But… aren’t the nations of the world doing something about it?” asked Kaede.

“Well… the main cause of the greenhouse effect is reliance on fossil fuels and it’s very hard for countries to budge. Researching alternative energy systems is expensive and makes their economies weaker, not to mention oil companies hold a lot of power and-”

“Oh my god!” shouted Maki. “I didn’t come to your house to hear you talk about politics, Saihara. Who cares about climate change? It’s not like we can do anything about it.” I smiled in response to her retort.

“You know, that type of civilian apathy is exactly the reason why-”

“How about we go to the pool? It’s hot, we have nothing to do. Might as well.” I was less than pleased at Maki’s suggestion. Kaede had the exact opposite reaction.

“Oh yeah! I love the pool! Let’s go to the pool!” our eyes met. She gave me an innocent, sultry look. I sighed, frustrated.

I already knew how it would all go. Kaede would show up, looking like the bombshell she is in a swimsuit while I would look like a pale, limp noodle, just standing there, not knowing what to do. I wasn’t particularly athletic, or tall, or masculine. Heck, I think I wasn’t even feminine enough to be considered good looking in that way. I guess I was just stuck in the middle of every lane.

“No thanks. I’ll pass.” I said. Kaede looked immediately disappointed.

“What? Why?”

“It’s just… I don’t like the pool. It’s crammed and the water’s cold.” she leaned closer to me.

“C’mon! It’ll be fun. We can play beach ball, relax with some drinks under an umbrella…”

“Yeah! C’mon, Shuichi!” said Kaito. “Don’t lag behind! Are you gonna spend all summer indoors with your dusty books? Don’t you wanna have fun?” I raised my eyebrows.

“Bold of you to imply I can’t have fun reading books.” he gave me a strong pat on the back in response.

“Ha, ha, ha! Yeah, right! C’moon, it won’t be fun without you!”

I turned to Kaede. She was looking at me with puppy pleading eyes. Kaito was also doing the same thing… but it was far less cute. They rested their knuckles against their chin like a couple of e-girls. Maki was sitting indifferent to the whole exchange. I gave up.

“Ugh. Fine! I’ll go, but just because you asked me to.”

“Yay!” said Kaede. “Since it’s the first bath of summer I’ll buy myself a new swimsuit! How about we go in a couple of days?” everyone turned to me once more.

“...Sure.”

“Great! Then it’s decided.”

I’m not sure why pools bothered me so much. Maybe it was just the cold water. Maybe it was the feeling of being out of my element. But one thing was true: it sure was hot. I supposed getting out of my comfort zone and refreshing a bit with the others couldn’t hurt.

The two days passed and me and the group went to the community pool, as agreed. Since it was the beginning of summer, the place was only moderately full. The air was dry and stifling, but at least there was the subtlest of breezes holding back the heat. Truth be told, I couldn’t wait to get into the water.

“Maki and I are going to get changed.” said Kaede. “Try to wait patiently, okay guys〜?” she gave me a wink.

I sighed again. Kaede seemed puzzled by my reaction as I simply headed to the male changing room.

“Yeah, yeah, sure. Let’s go Kaito.”

Surprised as well, he followed suit. In the changing room, he asked me about the previous exchange.

“What was that all about?” I felt slight regret over my coldness.

“Well… It’s just kinda… embarrassing seeing Kaede in a swimsuit.” Kaito laughed.

“Ha, ha, ha! Seriously? Do you think Kaede would’ve begged you to come if she didn’t want you to look at her?” I blushed.

“Okay… maybe that’s true. But still. Why would she want to? I mean, look at me.” I took off my t-shirt, revealing my non muscular torso.

“I warned you, bro! I told you to get jacked with me, but you didn’t listen! It keeps happening.”

“I told you I didn’t want to come… Kaede’s gonna think I’m a wimp and she’s gonna be embarrassed to be seen by me.”

Kaito looked a bit dejected. He sat next to me and put a hand on my shoulder. For the first time, his tone got serious. He put on a reassuring smile.

“C’mon, man… you know that’s not true. Kaede likes you. She’s your friend. You’re her friend! Do you honestly think she would hate you for looking at her?”  
I looked in front of me. I thought carefully. No. Kaede was too kind. She would never hate me for looking at her. As a matter of fact, by this point, the two of us were pretty close. But did she like me that way? I strongly doubted it.

Maybe it was because of my insecurities I believed that… maybe Kaede did like me, but even the tiniest bit of affection hurt like a pointy dagger. I was so used to people being disappointed by me. Being praised was… different. I couldn’t exactly process it in my mind.

The scalding heat made it hard to think. My thoughts of self loathing became hazy and stacked haphazardly. I shook my head and pulled myself together. Kaito was waiting in front of me. I guessed I might as well go.

We found Kaede and Maki already changed, waiting outside the dressrooms. She turned to me. I was astounded.

Kaede was wearing a frilled pink bikini. It suited her really well, both to her character and her body. Her fit, beautiful body was in almost full display. My heart ached at her beauty.

Almost without thinking, I said:

“Wow… you look great, Kaede.” before I realized what came out of my mouth, she blushed quickly.

“Oh gee, Shuichi… don’t say that all of a sudden, it’s embarrassing! Ha, ha.”

“Ah, sorry.” I said, instinctively reaching for my cap to cover my eyes, instead finding my hair.

“It’s okay.” she replied. An awkward air lingered as we looked and avoided looking at each other, back and forth. Maki, whose tolerance for our antics ran dry far too long ago, let a deep sigh.

“Ugh! Can we go drop our things already? I’m baking here!” Kaito laughed.

“Yeah! I see a good spot over there. Follow me!”

We settled on a somewhat quiet spot. After leaving my bag I dipped my toes on the water. It was cold, but pleasant. I sighed of relief as I lowered my feet, sitting on the edge of the pool. Kaito had a slightly different approach.

“Cannonball!”

With his cry, he jumped curled into a ball to the pool, splashing me in the process. I recoiled. Kaito, of course, froze immediately.

“AAAAaaaahhhh!” I could sense the pain shred in his shriek. Kaede was laughing on the sidelines while Maki facepalmed.

“Ugh… why am I dating him?”

The rest of us slowly dipped into the water. Suddenly all the tension I was feeling was gone. A few minutes and all of us, even I were paddling around.

“Aah! Now this is the life!” said Kaede.

“Yeah. You can say that.”

We kicked our feet for a while. We made some tentative swims, then Kaito began doing a lap at high speed through the pool.

“Woohoo!”

“Look at him… he’s such a child.” said Maki.

“Ha, ha, ha! Yeah, he is. But that’s what you like about him, isn’t it?” said Kaede. Maki shut off in response. Kaito came back from his lap.

“Hey! Who wants to race me? Maki Roll?” with little enthusiasm, she replied:

“Pass.”

“What about you, Shuichi?”

Everyone looked at me expectantly. Clearly, I was no match for Kaito, but even if I considered testing my strength, I wasn’t really in the mood for competition.

“Nope. Sorry Kaito.” he looked disappointed.

“Alright… guess I’ll race myself. See you guys in a bit!”

And there he went. The girls and I looked at one another, incredulous.

“Wow… that Kaito sure is full of energy, isn’t he?” said Kaede.

“Yup.” I simply replied.

“Ha, ha, ha!” I thought refusing Kaito’s challenge would look cowardly, but fortunately the girls didn’t think much of it. I was glad.

Kaede, Maki and me swam around an area, back and forth. The movement began to get my blood flowing and suddenly I felt great. For the first time in the day, I felt both cool and ´spry. Maybe people went to pools for a reason, after all.

Kaito came back. At some point, inevitably, someone began to splash the others and suddenly we were all splashing each other. I usually don’t like getting splashed, but at least it didn’t sting if it got in my eyes. I even enjoyed it a little bit.

The others were chatting while I slowly drifted in the water. I simply floated, relaxing without intention. From about 5 feet afar, I looked at my friends. I felt happy. Before I came, I was worried it would be too stressing to hang with them at the pool, but now we were all content. They were doing their own thing and I was doing my own. Everything was perfectly fine. Then, something unexpected, but not unwelcome happened. Kaede noticed me looking. She swam towards me and said:

“Hey! I’m a little thirsty. Wanna get out and grab a drink?” I was slightly surprised, but I didn’t flinch.

“Uh… yeah, sure.”

The both of us got out of the pool. Kaito and Maki stayed in the water. Kaede pulled a couple of drinks from a mini fridge Kaito had brought. We had a taste. It was a blessing.

“Aaaah…! So nice.” she said. I nodded in agreement. The two of us kicked back and relaxed on a couple of beach chairs. Kaede and I casually looked at the pool. Kaito and Maki were swimming next to each other. It looked like Maki was finally smiling.

“Check it out. Looks like Maki is finally enjoying herself.” I provoked a decent chuckle from Kaede.

“Yeah. And you too! Looks like coming to the pool wasn’t as bad as you thought, huh?” I scratched the back of my neck, embarrassed.

“Yeah… I suppose.” now Kaede was the one looking embarrassed.

“Sorry if we were a little pushy… next time, we’ll go do something you like! Right?” the sudden proposition sounded a bit confusing to me.

“No, it’s fine, really. You don’t need to be concerned about me.” in response, Kaede looked a bit sorry for me.

“What? No, of course I do! We’re friends, right? It’s normal that I want you to have fun as well.”

I briefly thought about the simple subject. I supposed she was right. I never even questioned whether or not Kaede and I were “friends” by this point. Clearly we hanged out a lot, but I never really pondered why. I smiled.

“Yeah, I guess we are friends after all. It’s strange. Before I met you and the others, I never truly had any friends.”

“Huh? Really?”

“Yup. I knew other kids in elementary school, but never ‘hang at each other's houses’ kids. I played more often with my neighbours or my cousin. You don’t know my cousin, she’s a couple years older than me.”

“Wow! I didn’t know you had a cousin.”

“She’s currently in college, so she’s rarely around the house. She used to be… a bit of a handful, let’s say.”

“Ha, ha, ha! Siblings, right? I wouldn’t know, since I’m an only daughter.”

“Ha, ha. Technically, I am as well, but y’know. Do you ever wish you had a sister?” Kaede turned to the side and briefly looked into the distance.

“Sometimes I wish I had one sister, someone who was similar to me. But… whenever I think about it, I’m not so sure. I don’t mean to brag, but I know I’m an early successful, award winning pianist. If I had a sister… I think she would get pretty easily jealous.”

I pictured the same scenario. Yes, I could picture very clearly what Kaede was describing. It mustn't be easy being related to an Ultimate student.

A few moments passed, while Kaede and I enjoyed our drinks and the soft summer breeze. Suddenly, she mentioned:

“What I said earlier, I meant it. We can do something else next time. We can just hang at your house! I don’t mind that.” I nodded.

“Yeah, I don’t mind that either.”

Another silence passed. I felt like Kaede wanted to tell me something else, but I didn’t push her. After about a minute, I noticed she had almost finished her drink.

“Don’t you want to go back to the water?” I asked.

“Hm? Do you?” I was slightly taken aback by the question. I thought for a moment.

“No, I’m fine here. I think I’ll stay for a while in the shade.”

“Okay! Then I’ll stay here too.” I kept being surprised.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’m fine here with you.”

We both went a little red after we realized what Kaede just said. She just casually admitted she enjoyed spending time with me. I finally understood what she was trying to say earlier. She wasn’t just being polite. She… genuinely cared for me.

This was a very new sensation. I wasn’t used to people throwing affection at me. But I supposed Kaede was different.

She and I spent several minutes at the chairs until Kaito and Maki came back. We spent a good time the four of us just chatting by the pool. The others went for another swim, I was fine, then it was finally time to go.

The girls and us would part different ways at the school entrance. Kaede still looked beautiful with her hair tied in a braid, her wide brim hat and her summer dress. She dedicated me a very bright smile as she left.

“See ya boys! Next time at your house, right Shuichi?” her smile infected me.

“Of course. See ya!”

When she turned, Kaito gave me a very intentional nudge.

“Heeey! Sounds like it went well, huh?” I played aloof.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Ooh! And you’re even being snarky! Looks like my sidekick is finally growing up!”

“Shut up! Ah, ha, ha!”

I turned back one last time to look at her. I felt optimistic. The whole summer was ahead, and I had at least a very good friend who cared about me.

Maybe… something else.


End file.
